Crop Report: April 11th, 2022
Tomatoes
Conventionals – Transplanting has begun and is going well. Early planting continue to grow and look good.
San Marzano Style – Transplanting continues and is on track.
Organics – Transplanting has completed. Plants are growing nicely and looking good. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Peaches
Organics – Growers are busy thinning orchards. Labor has not been an issue so far. All normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Conventionals – 2022 planting season is almost completed. These new orchards won’t produce a substantial crop for harvest until they are three years old. Northern Growers who rely solely on district water are being told they will not get water until April 18th and allocations may be 50% of normal. Higher than normal temperatures last week are not helping the situation, creating additional stress on the trees. Normal cultural practices continue in all orchards.
Pears
Fruit development is progressing well. Higher than normal temperatures are pushing fruit development along. Fruit volume looks good so far for an average crop. Once the natural fruit drop occurs, we will have a better estimate of crop volume for this year’s harvest. All normal cultural practices and crop protections continue.
Grapes
Bunch counts were taken last week. Early season estimates look good for meeting our expected tonnage this year. All normal cultural practices and crop protections continue.
Cherries
Cherry crop potential continues to look good. Bloom timing is ahead of last year meaning harvest is also expected to be earlier than last year. All cultural practices and crop protection continue as needed.
Apricots
Fruit continues to grow and is trending on the larger side this year. Larger fruit is an indicator of less overall tonnage. We are a few weeks away from size samplings which will bring more clarity to expected tonnage and fruit size.
Pineapple
The summer crop will begin late March and go through early August. Crop availability is projected to be limited. Increased cost in farming, raw materials, packaging, and energy continue to put pressure on facilites. Labor is also a concern and locations are fearing a high turnover.
Mandarin Oranges
This season harvests were small in Zhejiang and Hubei provinces, adding to the high fruit costs in the late season. The price of tinplate, packaging materials, energy, and labor is at an all-time high. For this season, factories packed as planned, storing next to no extra fruit for later production.